American Logan Greenhalgh was crowned the light heavyweight champion, in the “Power Slab 26” tournament within the events of the Riyadh season.
Logan fought the main confrontation hosted by “The Venue” area, against his compatriot Luke “Lethal Strike” Simonds and decided it with a knockout, to win the light heavyweight title.
The coronation of Greenhalgh, the first seed, came at the expense of Simonds, the third seed, in a confrontation that was scheduled for five rounds, within a tournament that witnessed the participation of 16 competitors of different nationalities, who fought eight confrontations distributed over multiple weight categories.
The main bouts witnessed three other confrontations, where Kazakhstani Zakir “Step Thunder” Naymanbayev, ranked third, defeated American Wes “The Boom” Mina, ranked eighth, in the heavyweight competition.
In the welterweight confrontation, American Zach “Dear Z” Zayn, ranked ninth, was able to achieve a knockout victory over his compatriot Brandon “The Ripper” Rhodes, ranked second.
As for the light heavyweight competitions, Uzbekistan Djorbek “Scorpion” Atajonov, ranked seventh, succeeded in deciding his confrontation with American Kayali “The Chief” Kanekoa by knockout, adding another victory to the record of main card confrontations.
In the preliminary bouts, Indian Amanpreet Singh defeated American Carl “The Cannon” Glennon in the heavyweight competition, while American Mason “F7 Mexicano” Woodward defeated his compatriot Joseph “Joey Success” Martinez in the middleweight match.
The same category witnessed the victory of the Kazakh Daniyar “Shrader” Toktarov, ranked tenth, over the Nigerian Sunday Ejiofor, while the Brazilian Acasio concluded the results of the heavyweight confrontations by defeating the Nigerian Kabiro “The Nigerian Hulk” Adediran.
Italian coaches Thiago Motta and Antonio Conte entered the circle of candidates to take over the technical leadership of the Saudi Al-Ahly team, succeeding Dutch coach Marino Pusic, while sources revealed that Motta leads the list of options proposed to take over the task during the next stage, while Conte stipulated large sums of money.
The sources explained that the name of German coach Uli Werner was also discussed among the training options, but Mota seems the closest so far, waiting for the club to make its final decision regarding the future of the technical staff.
These moves come at a time when Al-Ahly ranks sixth in the Saudi Professional League with 21 points from 11 matches, and is also in sixth place in the AFC Elite Champions League with eight points from four matches.
Motta, 44 years old, has a coaching career that began with the French youth team of Paris Saint-Germain in 2018, before he took over coaching Genoa and Spezia in Italy, then Bologna in September 2022, where he achieved his most notable successes by leading the team to qualify for the Champions League in the 2023-2024 season.
The Italian coach moved to Juventus in the summer of 2024, but his experience ended with his dismissal in March 2025, nine months after assuming the job, after he led the team in 42 matches, during which he achieved 18 victories and 16 draws, compared to eight defeats.
As for Conte, who is 57 years old, he has a coaching record full of titles, having led Juventus to three consecutive Italian League titles, before coaching the Italian national team, then moving to Chelsea, with whom he won the Premier League and the FA Cup.
Conte returned to Italy to lead Inter Milan to the league title in the 2020-2021 season, before experimenting with English club Tottenham, then taking over as coach of Napoli in July 2024, and leading them to the Italian league title in the 2024-2025 season, before his experience with the club ended in June 2026.
On the other hand, the name of German Uli Werner, 38 years old, emerged among the options that were traded, after he gained his coaching experience in German football through Holstein Kiel, Werder Bremen and Leipzig, and his experience with him ended in June 2026.
These names put Al-Ahly in front of different options in terms of experience and training record, as Conte has extensive experience in leading major clubs and winning titles, while Motta achieved his most prominent successes with Bologna, while Werner’s name is associated with his experiences in the German League.
Mota remains the closest candidate, according to the sources, amid anticipation of the outcome of the moves related to the future of Bosic, who took over the leadership of Al-Ahly last August, with a contract extending until June 2028.
Al-Ahly Club announced, on Friday, the latest medical developments related to the condition of its players Saleh Abu Al-Shamat and Edward Spirtsyan, as part of the medical report for the team’s players, explaining the continuation of the treatment and rehabilitation programs for the players, in preparation for their return to participation.
The club explained that Saleh Abu Al-Shamat is continuing his treatment and rehabilitation programs under the supervision of the team’s medical staff, according to the medical plan established to recover from the injury. In preparation for his return to group training after his readiness is complete.
Regarding the Armenian player Eduard Spirtsyan, the report indicated that his treatment program was completed in coordination between the medical staff in Al-Ahly and his counterpart in the Armenian national team, after he suffered a connective muscle injury during the team’s last match against Al-Sadd.
Al-Ahly’s technical staff is awaiting the completion of the players’ readiness during the coming period, in light of the team’s need to restore its injured members and enhance its technical options before the upcoming matches.
